A stethoscope is an essential diagnostic instrument used in daily medical practice. In the clinical setting, the stethoscope is used as a listening device to evaluate heart, respiratory, pleural, uterine, intestinal and other physiological sounds which may be conveyed to the user. In fact, the wide spread use of stethoscopes is so thoroughly associated with medical care that the depiction of a dangling stethoscope hanging one's neck has become a caricature for physicians and other healthcare providers worldwide. However, perhaps in part due to this prevalent use of stethoscopes, these instruments of basic necessity have also become the object of much development and innovation.
Stethoscopes generally include a sound receiving portion, which often is a transducer diaphragm (usually a membrane-like partitioning surface), which is acoustically connected to two earpieces. The sound usually monitored by the diaphragm is generally a surface sound which is transmitted from various locations on the body surface through the diaphragm when pressed firmly on the body surface. Common stethoscope designs acoustically connect the diaphragm with the earpieces with an arm which bifurcates into a headset or earpiece assembly and which also carries a sound transmission member, such as a lumen channel or passageway, for the acoustic passage of the monitored surface sound. Moreover, most known stethoscopes further operate by filtering extraneous noise and modifying the incoming sound as it is transmitted to the earpieces.
Some known stethoscopes use stethoscope covers which are designed to be temporarily secured onto the sound receiving portion of the stethoscope for the intended purpose of addressing concerns at the diaphragm-patient interface when the diaphragm is pressed against the body surface. For example, one previous disclosure describes placing a cover on a stethoscope's sound receiving portion for the intended purpose of preventing the passage of contaminants and transmission of disease as the same stethoscope is used among various patients. Such covers are typically slid over the existing diaphragm piece, and may be composed of a thin coating, such as for example a latex membrane. Other covers have also been applied to a diaphragm surface of a stethoscope for an intended "insulatory" purpose. In this instance, the cover is intended to control the temperature of the instrument surface, such as by heating or thermal insulation, prior to physical contact with the mammalian body surface.
Other known stethoscopes have also used covers for the intended purpose of protecting the user-physician or other healthcare provider from skin irritations arising from instrument contact. For example, one previous disclosure describes use of a decorative hypoallergenic fabric stethoscope machine-washable cover which envelops the central portion or arm of the stethoscope. The fabric cover is applied by hook-and-loop or snap fasteners. Furthermore, there exists a decorative stethoscope sleeve which covers the portion of the stethoscope in contact with the neck of the user, applied to the instrument by the use of drawstrings.
Specific examples of stethoscope covers according to the various "protective" and "insulating" categories just summarized above are disclosed variously throughout the following references: U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,162 to Tuttle; U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,946 to Eddy; U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,265 to Wright; U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,046 to Turner; U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,314 to Kendall et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,193 to Mandiberg; U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,960 to Wagner. The disclosures of these references are herein incorporated by their entirety by reference thereto.
Conventional stethoscopes are further associated with other common, practical problems such as, for example: (1) undesirable and potentially harmful motion of the stethoscope as its flexible structure hangs from and swings about the neck of a healthcare provider; and (2) patient apprehension of the instrument before and during its application to the patient's body parts.
The undesired, swinging motion which may result from general use of conventional stethoscopes generally arises from the method of wearing the device when not in use. The common method for wearing a stethoscope includes placing the earpiece assembly around the neck as a virtual anchor which allows the arm and transducer assembly to hang vertically down the wearer's chest. However, the transducer is generally a heavy metallic implement and the arm is relatively flexible. This combination results in a wide pendulum-like member which may swing about a substantial arc during even the most subtle movements such as bending or reaching. Such a swinging motion of a heavy metallic transducer assembly may inconvenience either the user or the patient during a medical procedure, and may even result in harm to the user, the patient, the stethoscope itself, or other sensitive articles within reach of the stethoscope's swinging motion.
In attempt to prevent the potential harms and inconveniences just described in relation to the awkward nature of conventional stethoscope designs during normal use, many health care professionals will wrap the tubing of the stethoscope arm around their necks when not using the instrument. Even still, however, with most stethoscope designs these arm tubings are made of materials, such as for example latex, which may induce a hypoallergenic reaction when it comes into contact with the skin. It is believed that these potential dangers and inconveniences of the conventional stethoscope designs may be at least in part remedied by providing a stethoscope with a sound transmission arm that is designed to minimize or prevent swinging of the transducer assembly as the device is worn about a user's neck in a normal fashion.
Moreover, health professionals often find that some patients, especially the pediatric population, are apprehensive in the clinical setting and particularly to the application of medical devices such as stethoscopes to their body parts. To abate this uneasiness, there is a need to create a comfortable setting for such patients by making medical diagnostic instruments such as a stethoscope less intimidating. It is believed that providing appealing indicia, such as illustrations or graphical designs, on a stethoscope's transducer diaphragm outer surface may serve to at least partially pacify such an apprehensive patient prior to applying that surface to the patient's body. It is also believed that some patients may be further relieved of apprehension by providing a variety of such indicia or designs on interchangeable transducer diaphragms so that a particular indicia may be chosen for or by a given patient.
None of the cited references discloses a stethoscope device assembly that includes a sound transmission member with a super-elastic member which extends between an earpiece assembly and the sound receiver assembly such as a transducer diaphragm.
Nor do the cited references disclose a stethoscope device assembly that includes a releasably engaged transducer diaphragm member with indicia that is appealing to a patient such that the indicia is adapted to pacify the patient during a medical examination.
Nor do the cited references disclose a stethoscope device assembly which provides a plurality of such transducer diaphragms, each having a different appealing indicia, so that a patient or user of the stethoscope may chose a diaphragm based on a desired indicia.